Frank Rich: "Any Witch Hunt For Traitors Should Begin In White House"

[kpete]

Times' Frank Rich: Any 'witch hunt' for traitors should begin in the White House


RAW STORY
New York Times columnist Frank Rich writes that any "witch hunt" for traitors should begin in the White House

"What really angers the White House and its defenders about both the Post and Times scoops are not the legal questions the stories raise about unregulated gulags and unconstitutional domestic snooping, but the unmasking of yet more administration failures in a war effort riddled with ineptitude," Rich writes.

"It's the recklessness at the top of our government, not the press' exposure of it, that has truly aided the enemy, put American lives at risk and potentially sabotaged national security," Rich continues. "That's where the buck stops, and if there's to be a witch hunt for traitors, that's where it should begin."

..............

Rich ends his column by suggesting that if Air Force General Michael Hayden is confirmed by the Senate to replace Goss then "someone should charge those senators with treason, too."

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Frank_Rich_Any_witch_hunt_for_0513.html

[fooj]

1. Spot on! Charge them all with TREASON!

I couldn't agree more.

[babylonsister]

2. NOM! That last sentence sounds like Rich throwing the gauntlet down! nt

[BrklynLiberal]

3. It seems so obvious that the worst enemies of our nation are in the White

House now.
Kudos to Frank Rich.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. k & r

[Ms. Clio]

5. that's the cold hard truth

and it's probably much much worse than we even begin to know.

[flyarm]

6. yeah frank rich!!! here is a true patriot!! k&r..n/t

[simonm]

7. Truth to Power

:toast:

[Land Shark]

8. Max attention on databases and gulags deters critics as well

Surely this aspect of the NSA disclosures has not excaped our more machiavellian politicians.

[NastyDiaper]

9. The plop of the Sunday NYT on my drive..

.. is one best sounds there is.

[Dudley_DUright]

15. I just might have to go out and buy tomorrow's edition just

for the Frank Rich column alone. This one will be a keeper.

[pretzel4gore]

10. i hope this aint too late

lookit Nepal! who'd ever think the army open fire on crowds of citizens? in 6 years, alot of the frank burns type have been put into position, i imagine, in the forces of US coercion, to blindly obey the head buzzards (rummy, chenny, bushy and condy) who knew they'd eventually need old frank to do the necessary killin'

[CoffeeCat]

11. Spot on!! Those words need to be smashed into...

...the public consciousness.

The traitors are INSIDE the White House. Those brave souls who expose corruption and the desecration of our Constitution--are HEROES.

Those thug bastards in the White House attack, attack and attack again--anyone who dares to unmask their corruption, their Un-American tactics and their perverted way of governing and policy making. These sick, twisted freaks need to be exposed for who and what they are!!!

I'm so outraged and every American who cares about Democracy should be foaming at the mouth, too!

What a bunch of third-rate thugs! They use Fox news to perpetuate the twisted view that those who expose Bush corruption are traitors. How low can these assholes sink? How much lying do we have to sit around and listen to? How absurd will they jerks be? I'm sick of being insulted by the bullshit propaganda they spew in our faces, courtesy of the bastard flacks at Fox News. Screw all of you!!

To think that they believe that this will WORK!! The audacity of these freakish, myopic nimrods is beyond measure!!!

I'm sickened, saddened, disgusted and terrified that these people are at the helm!!

History books will certainly declare these dark days in American history. Junior was wrong when he told Woodward that "we won't know" how history will judge Iraq and the Bush presidency. It won't take long---about as long as it took America to figure out Nixon--to categorize Bush in the "Worst Fucking President EVER!" category.

The commentary on Junior will be unprecedented. He will be shredded to ribbons and thank God that sociopathic thug will be alive to SEE and HEAR it!!! That little pisher won't have a friend in this country--except his mommy!

The daily taunting and brutal sneering--every time he goes in public---should be enough to keep him holed up at the ranch for the rest of his small, miserable, sick, do-nothing, demented life!!

Calgon take me away!!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

12. ANY ENABLERS should be held accountable!!!

Dem or repig, I just don't care anymore - THIS HAS TO STOPPED! We (the USA that I grew up in) are on the cusp of irrelevance and oblivion.
THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED!

[democrank]

13. Reading Frank Rich`s material is like

spotting a beacon of light on a foggy night. Apparently Rich has no use for the standard gobbledygook. Instead, he chooses words carefully and uses them like poison arrows aimed straight at the heart of what ails us. Take a bow, Mr. Frank Rich.

[Vidar]

14. Lovely to see it in print.

[Swamp Rat]

16. I prefer to call it a 'nazi alien lizard hunt'

[glitch]

21. Lol! Thanks for that. nt

[bullimiami]

17. the greatest threat to this corrupt government is the american people.

and we are the focus of their 'war'. all of the lying, spying, law breaking and unconstitutional power grabbing is to fight against the one real threat to their power and agenda.

and its not iraq, iran, terrorists, korea, nukes or wmd. IT IS US.
Isnt it obvious they are at war with the constitution and the american way of life?

[Uncle Joe]

19. Well said bullimiami, I totally agree!

Kudos to Frank Rich.


Kicked and recommended!

:kick:

[Inland]

18. Rich is number one in providing themes that wrap up

seemingly unconnected factoids. I'm so glad he's back.

[Hissyspit]

20. No! It's the Dixie Chicks who are are enemy!

:sarcasm:

[Hubert Flottz]

22. "someone should charge those senators with treason, too."

Same thing I've said OVER and OVER!

[Why Syzygy]

28. Ditto .. any time now ...

they have put us at risk over and over.

[riderinthestorm]

23. Frank Rich's columns are desperately needed

during these days. I am so glad he is back.

K & R

[tiptoe]

24. "Frank Rich--We can bump him. I mean BUMP him. I know a guy. Say the word"

Stephen Colbert at White House Correspondents' Association dinner, April 29, 2006

From transcript:

By the way, Mr. President, thank you for agreeing to be on my show. I was just as shocked as everyone here is, I promise you. How's Tuesday for you? I've got Frank Rich, but we can bump him. And I mean bump him. I know a guy. Say the word.

Video ( :11:50 )

[seafan]

25. Excerpts from Rich's "Will The Real Traitors Please Stand Up?"

Thanks to Raw Story for the scoop.

Man, oh, man. Buckle up, y'all.

Excerpts from Rich's "Will The Real Traitors Please Stand Up?" set for Sunday's edition of the New York Times:


When America panics, it goes hunting for scapegoats. But from Salem onward, we've more often than not ended up pillorying the innocent. Abe Rosenthal, the legendary New York Times editor who died last week, and his publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, were denounced as treasonous in 1971 when they defied the Nixon administration to publish the Pentagon Papers, the secret government history of the Vietnam War. Today we know who the real traitors were: the officials who squandered American blood and treasure on an ill-considered war and then tried to cover up their lies and mistakes. It was precisely those lies and mistakes, of course, that were laid bare by the thousands of pages of classified Pentagon documents leaked to both The Times and The Washington Post.

This history is predictably repeating itself now that the public has turned on the war in Iraq. The administration's die-hard defenders are desperate to deflect blame for the fiasco, and, guess what, the traitors once again are The Times and The Post. This time the newspapers committed the crime of exposing warrantless spying on Americans by the National Security Agency (The Times) and the CIA's secret "black site" Eastern European prisons (The Post). Aping the Nixon template, the current White House tried to stop both papers from publishing and when that failed impugned their patriotism.

[seafan]

27. Link to full article here.

It's a keeper.

Will The Real Traitors Please Stand Up? by Frank Rich, May 14, 2006

[gristy]

26. Now posted at nytimes.com

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/opinion/14rich.html?pagewanted=1

[Up2Late]

29. Editors & Publishers has a write of of the Rich Op-Ed too, here's the link

Frank Rich in 'NYT' Defends Newspapers, Rips 'Traitors' in Washington

By E&P Staff

Published: May 13, 2006 10:45 PM ET

NEW YORK In his Sunday opinion column for The New York Times, Frank Rich, who returned from book leave just last week, shook off the cobwebs to launch a vigorous defense of newspapers -- and an attack on the real "traitors," including top officials.

Rich opens by recalling charges of treasons against the late New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal when he published the Pentagon Papers in 1971. "Today we know who the real traitors were: the officials who squandered American blood and treasure on an ill-considered war and then tried to cover up their lies and mistakes," Rich observes.

Now history is repeat itself, as the Bush administration and tis defenders "are desperate to deflect blame" for the Iraq fiasco, "and, guess what, the traitors once again are The Times and The Post. This time the newspapers committed the crime of exposing warrantless spying on Americans by the National Security Agency (The Times) and the C.I.A.'s secret 'black site' Eastern European prisons (The Post). Aping the Nixon template, the current White House tried to stop both papers from publishing and when that failed impugned their patriotism....

"When reporters at both papers were awarded Pulitzer Prizes last month, administration surrogates, led by bloviator in chief William Bennett, called for them to be charged under the 1917 Espionage Act.

(more at link)

<http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002502419>